Dark Destiny (26 page)

"Don't encourage him, MaryAnn. He's already puffed up beyond belief." Destiny made a face, determined to keep the worry from her friend's face.

"I was wondering if you've had any visitors lately, MaryAnn," Nicolae said easily. "Destiny and I are looking into this business with John Paul and Martin."

"Oh, that's good, Nicolae. I've been worried about them." MaryAnn looked confused, rubbed her temples as if they were suddenly throbbing. "Somebody was here earlier, right before you came in, Destiny. A very nice gentleman. He asked me a lot of questions and seemed very interested in our sanctuary."

Destiny exchanged a long look of alarm with Nicolae.
She carries no visual memory of this man. She remembers the conversation, but not his appearance. He did not seem to ask questions about you or me
. Nicolae gave a barely perceptible shake of his head, warning her to remain silent as he turned the full power of his voice and gaze on MaryAnn. "Had you ever met this man before?"

A slight frown tugged at MaryAnn's mouth, put little lines around her eyes. "I don't think so, Nicolae. I can't remember—isn't that strange? But I keep notes. He must be in the notes. He wanted something…" She trailed off again, looking more bewildered than ever.

She has the classic signs of memory tampering. Every time she tries to picture him, she feels pain
. Nicolae waved MaryAnn back to her chair, soothed her with his touch alone, trailing his fingers along the top of the desk so that she followed the hypnotic gesture.

"What did he want?" Nicolae sounded casually interested, but there was a hidden compulsion in the velvet tones of his voice.

Destiny scowled at him.
She can't remember him. It hurts her to think about him. Don't push her like that
. She thumped the desktop, her fingernails tapping out a rhythm of warning.

Nicolae reached out and gently laid his hand over Destiny's, stilling her nervous fingers.
You know this is necessary. I will protect her from pain, little one. I can just imagine you with our children. I would never dare to correct their behavior.

Destiny's heart thudded. Her eyes widened in shock.
No one said anything about children
. She hissed the words at him.
You never said a single word about children
. There was panic in her voice, in her eyes.

MaryAnn leaned back in her chair, but neither Carpathian looked at her. Their gazes were locked on each other.

That would be a natural progression, I would think
. Nicolae pried Destiny's fingers from the desk and placed her palm over his heart.
I am beginning to realize that you have more fear of what is natural than you have of the undead
.

Destiny didn't dare answer him. She didn't know how to answer him. He was in her mind, reading her every thought. He knew the idea of home and hearth and family was terrifying to her. Her eyes flashed at him, daring him to be amused.

MaryAnn saved him. "He was looking for someone. A woman with a special talent. He wanted me to call him if she happened to show up here. She was traced here, to Seattle, but she's disappeared." MaryAnn opened a drawer and removed a business card to hand it to Nicolae.

He leaned close to Destiny so she could read it with him. So she could inhale his masculine scent and feel the brush of his skin against hers. Her tongue traced her suddenly dry lower lip, and the action immediately caught his attention. Destiny lowered her gaze from his sculpted lips to the card.

"The MorrisonCenter for Psychic Research." She read the words out loud. "Have you ever heard of them, Nicolae? MaryAnn?" She turned the card over. "They have several addresses in several cities, none here in Seattle. Why would they be following a woman into a sanctuary for battered women? Did she run away from them?"

"MaryAnn," Nicolae said. "The gentleman asked you to call this number if the woman showed up here asking for help?"

MaryAnn smiled with the innocence of a child, nodding her head. "It was strange. Afterward I wondered why I hadn't thought of Destiny. She doesn't fit the description, but she is talented. I thought it strange that she didn't come to my mind."

The protections held
, Nicolae observed with some relief. There was a certain underlying arrogance in his tone. Destiny glanced warily at him, aware on some level that there were many things Nicolae was capable of that she was not. His hand slid down her arm, a gesture of camaraderie.
I am an ancient, my love, and your protector. There are many things I have learned over the centuries
.

I'll just bet there are.

"MaryAnn, tell us something about the woman this man is seeking," Nicolae prompted.

MaryAnn frowned again. "He gave me a photograph of her, a reprint from a computer. That's how I knew it wasn't Destiny." She rummaged through two drawers, confused that she couldn't remember where she had placed the picture. She found it in her notebook, pressed between two pages of writing. "This is the woman. Do you know her?" In spite of Nicolae's persuasive commands, MaryAnn handed the picture over almost reluctantly.

The woman could have been anywhere from twenty to her mid thirties. She had a lush, full figure and a mass of dark hair falling in a cascade of loose ringlets. She was looking back at the camera, and there was a hunted, anxious look in the depths of her eyes. Destiny felt an instant kinship with her. She knew what it was like to be alone and hunted. Whatever the woman was running from, a violent boyfriend or husband, she now had much bigger problems with a vampire tracking her.

"What is her talent?" Destiny asked.

"She can hold an object and know who has touched it and the past history associated with it. A wonderful gift, and very rare."

He asked her if she knew of any other people with such a gift. Why is the vampire more interested in the talent than the woman with the talent?

Destiny could feel his confusion. The vampires were not acting in expected ways at all.

MaryAnn swept her hair from her face and smiled at them. "Velda can see people's auras. Did you know that? We don't talk about it, of course, because no one would believe us, but she knows about me and I know about her."

"What about you, MaryAnn?" Destiny asked curiously. "What talent have you been gifted with?"

She smiled innocently, without any guile whatsoever, still completely under Nicolae's compulsion. There was no way to hide the radiance of her inner heart. "I have a small gift, one barely discernible to most people but useful when clients need help. I know when a woman is telling the truth. Like poor Helena. I know John Paul did attack her. And I know she loves him more than anything on earth. When women come here seeking refuge, I screen them. More than once, a woman has come for the wrong reasons. And worse, there have been a few who took money to act as a spy to find another woman already in a safe house."

"This gentleman who came to see you, MaryAnn—what were his specific instructions?" Nicolae asked quietly.

Again she frowned slightly and rubbed her brow. "I am to call him at once if she comes here. A reasonable request. He wants to help her. The research center has money and counselors, and they are very willing to hide her from anyone wishing to harm her. He says her talent is valuable, and the center will do anything it can to help her. He believes she is trying to find an underground avenue to South America."

She cannot tell us anything more. I cannot see even a hint of what this vampire looks like.

Pater? Could it be Pater
? Destiny stared down at the face in the picture, the haunted eyes.
What are we to do for her
?

She must be found and protected. There is no other choice. She will be found.

A terrible black stone weighed heavily on Destiny's chest. Jealousy. It rose, sharp and appalling and unexpected. She fought down the unfamiliar emotion, exerted control on herself, made certain she didn't meet Nicolae's sharp gaze.

I cannot leave you, Destiny. I would not leave you. Vikirnoff must find and protect this woman. She must be escorted to our homeland and placed under the protection of our Prince
. Nicolae framed Destiny's face with his hands and bent his head to hers, kissing her thoroughly.

And then he was gone, leaving her to face MaryAnn, who sat behind her desk, one eyebrow raised and a faint smirk on her face. She fanned herself. "Well, well, well." Free of Nicolae's compulsion to speak of the stranger, she was once more completely at ease. "What in the world were we talking about? The two of you were so darned hot, you fried my brain."

"Not the two of us, MaryAnn," Destiny said with disgust. "He's like that. Impossible." She began to pace back and forth like a caged tiger, prowling through MaryAnn's office, carefully skirting the comfortable chairs for clients. She moved with elegant grace, fluid, like an animal on the hunt rather than a human. Gliding. Her feet made no noise, her movements were a whisper in the still air of the office.

Leaning her chin into her hands, elbows on the desk, Mary Ann watched her solemnly, mesmerized by the beauty of Destiny's movements. "Are you just going to wear a hole in my carpet or are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

Destiny glared at her. "It's
him. He's
what's wrong." She shoved a high-backed chair out of her way and made another circuit around the room.

MaryAnn nodded her head. "I see. I presume by him you mean Nicolae."

Destiny whirled to face her, hands curled into tight fists. "Don't you dare laugh, MaryAnn, and don't use that tone. I know what you're thinking. I don't need you laughing at this; it isn't funny at all."

MaryAnn kept her features carefully blank. "What exactly is it about Nicolae that is upsetting you, Destiny?"

"Everything!" Destiny threw herself into one of the offending chairs and stretched out her legs, still glaring at MaryAnn. "You saw him. You saw the way he acts with me. Everything about him drives me crazy."

There was a small silence. MaryAnn picked up a pen and began to trace patterns in her notebook. "Could you be a little more specific? Perhaps narrow it down for me?"

"Okay." There was challenge in Destiny's voice. "He looks at me." She lifted her chin belligerently, silently daring MaryAnn to laugh.

If Mary Ann's eyebrow could have risen any higher it would have reached her hairline. Her mouth twitched, and she hastily bit the end of her pen. "Oh, my. The bastard."

Destiny steepled her fingers and looked pointedly at Mary Ann. "Could you try to be serious? You're supposed to be a professional. It's the
way
he looks at me."

MaryAnn gestured with her hands. Beautiful hands, Destiny noted. Graceful. Perfect nails. The fingers weren't very long, but they were shapely, like MaryAnn. Destiny always found herself fascinated by MaryAnn's movements. By her innate goodness. "Please continue, Destiny. I'm certainly intrigued."

"He looks all goofy at me," she elaborated reluctantly. "Like I'm beautiful. Like he thinks I'm incredibly beautiful and smart and everything he ever wanted."

MaryAnn smiled at her. She leaned closer. "Is it possible that to Nicolae you
are
beautiful, and smart and everything he wants? Why is that so threatening to you?"

Swift impatience crossed her face. "I didn't say I was threatened. Did I say that? He's nuts to want me. I'm not normal."

MaryAnn sat back in her chair, her gaze on Destiny's face. "Normal? What is normal, Destiny? Why should he settle for normal when he could have you? What is normal to you?"

"You know, normal. Not me. Not what I am." Impatiently Destiny jumped to her feet and resumed pacing, quick, restless movements that revealed more than her short, snappy sentences.

"What do you think you are?" MaryAnn persisted.

"There you go again. You're using your counselor voice on me. You know very well what I am. I turn into vapor and fly on wings and run on four feet. Does that sound normal to you?"

MaryAnn smiled, a quick gleam of humor. "Actually, Destiny, it sounds very normal when we're talking about you. Or Nicolae. Isn't he the same as you?"

"Don't take his side. He's acting ridiculous. I'm trying to save the situation here, and the two of you and Velda and Inez have some idiotic idea of romance. Can you really picture me in the middle of a romance?" Destiny waved her hands around in a kind of fury. "It's absolutely silly. I don't do that sort of thing."

"I suppose it's true if you say so. You've never done that sort of thing, but that doesn't mean you can't. There's no reason not to try new experiences." Mary Ann leaned her chin into her palm and tapped her pen on the desk. "I think of you as very adventurous, Destiny. Maybe you should view Nicolae as a new page in your life."

Destiny stopped pacing, kept her back to MaryAnn. "Well, he isn't a new page in my life. He's been in my life nearly as long as I can remember." She pushed a hand through her thick mass of hair, lifted the weight of it from her neck.

MaryAnn noticed the slight trembling and sat up straight. "How did you meet Nicolae?" Because that was what this was about. Something in the past was causing perfectly controlled Destiny to pace like a caged animal. Causing her hands to tremble and her soul to reject a wonderful partner.

Destiny's shoulders hunched slightly. A small signal, but MaryAnn noted it. She watched the younger woman examine a painting on the wall. The silence stretched between them until MaryAnn was certain Destiny wouldn't respond.

"He came to me when I was a child." The voice, usually so beautiful, was strangled, a choked whisper of sound. "I might have been six. It's hard to remember. Time isn't the same for me anymore. It's endless and stretches out forever."

"Is it difficult to remember because it was a painful time?"

Destiny touched the painting, traced the outline of the child. "I prefer not to remember it. I closed the door on that part of my life."

MaryAnn nodded. She laced her fingers and regarded Destiny over her hands. "That's a self-preservation technique that abused and traumatized children often have to employ to survive. They have compartments in their minds to safely put things away in so they can move on." Her voice was without judgment. "Do you associate Nicolae with that time in your life?"